Civil engineering and industrial coating industries require economical, environmentally safe resin systems which cure at ambient temperature and give good elastomeric properties without compromising the moisture and chemical resistance. Concrete structures, for example, require coatings which are able to withstand impact as well as cover shrinkage-induced cracks which may be present therein.
Aromatic polyepoxide resins, particularly those based upon the use of polyglycidyl ethers of bisphenol A, have widely been used for preparing cast resins and coatings for civil engineering applications. Some of the reasons for success of epoxy resins ill these applications due to their moisture and chemical resistance as well as their ability to bond to a variety of substrates. When the polyepoxide resins are cured with polyamides, the resins, although resistant to chemicals, generally lack elasticity for a multitude of applications and when cured with amines, the polyepoxide resins lose their flexibility and impact strength.
Historically, flexibility in an epoxy resin formulation has been obtained through the use of coal tar or similar additives. Flexibility has also been imparted to an ambient cured epoxy by making gross changes in the cured epoxy structure. These changes have been accomplished by: (1) modifying tile aromatic character to a more aliphatic character; (2) reducing the cross-link density by using a curative with lower functionality or using a high excess of curative; and (3) adding long chain modifiers or flexibilizers in the form of resin, curative, or reactive additive. To achieve flexibilization of the epoxy resin pursuant to method 3, often flexibilizers in excess of sixty percent by weight of the formulation may be required or plasticizers such as nonyl phenol or benzyl alcohol may be used to reduce the concentration of flexibilizer. The use of plasticizers leads, of course, to the presence of fugitive materials.
Representative patents which describe polyepoxide resins and the approach to enhancing the physical properties of the polyepoxide resins are as follows:
German DE 3,536,246 A1 discloses the use of acrylic and methacrylic acid derivatives of urethane prepolymers as flexibilization agents for epoxide resin systems. The patentees disclose the reaction of hydroxy alkyl esters of methacrylic acid or acrylic acid and an isocyanate prepolymer, e.g. toluenediisocyanate-polyether polyol having a molecular weight of from 400 to 6000 as flexibilization agents for glycidyl ethers of bisphenol A. The examples show a curable polyepoxide composition comprising modified epoxy resins on the basis of bisphenol A with levels of acrylate terminated polyurethanes cured with a variety of amine curatives, e.g. polyaminoamides, modified cycloaliphatic polyamines and polyamines.
British Patent 1,399,257 disclose the production of elastic polyepoxide resins comprising a synthetic resin having free epoxide groups with a molecular weight ranging from 300 to 7000, a synthetic resin containing carbamic acid aryl ester groups or a polyalkylene ether polyol and a polyamine. Polyglycidylethers of diphenylol propane (bisphenol A) having epoxy value of from 0.02 to 0.6 and a molecular weight of 340 to 7000 are suggested as being preferred synthetic resins for the production of the elastic polyepoxide systems. Isocyanate prepolymers based upon a variety of polyisocyanates, e.g. toluene-2,6-diisocyanate; aliphatic isocyanates, e.g. 1,6-hexamethylenediisocyanate and isophorone diisocyanate; and bridged isocyanates, e.g. diphenymethanediisocyanate can be used as the carbamic acid aryl ester providing component with the polyamines being various aliphatic polyamines, e.g. alkylene polyamines or polyamidoamines.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,708 discloses elastic hardened polyepoxides formed by reacting a liquid polyepoxy resin with amino-terminated hydrolysis products of enamine or ketamine adducts. The adducts are formed by reacting a polyalkylene polyol with a polyisocyanate, either aromatic or aliphatic, to form a prepoymer and then reacting that prepolymer with the reaction product of am aliphatic amine with an aliphatic aldehyde or ketone. Optionally, a monofunctional epoxy compound is added to reduce viscosity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,830 discloses vinyl ester urethane resins characterized by reacting a polyoxyalkylene bisphenol A and a polycarboxylic acid wherein anhydride with a polyfunctional isocyanate and a monohydroxy-terminated ester of acrylic or methacrylic acid. Examples include the reaction of the bisphenol A component with an alkylene oxide and then react the polyether bisphenol A derivative with a saturated or unsaturated aliphatic polycarboxylic acid, e.g. maleic acid or adipic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,919 disclose the preparation of flexibilized vinyl esters by reacting a vinyl ester/styrene composition wherein the vinyl esters are formed by reacting polyfunctional epoxide with at least two molecules of unsaturated monocarboxylic acid in stoichiometric amount, a vinyl monomer and a flexibilizing component comprising an acrylate terminated polyurethane. Acrylate terminated isocyanate prepolymers include those formed by the reaction of toluenediisocyanate with polyols having from about 10 to 50 glycol units. Polyglycols having a molecular weight of about 200 are shown to be preferred.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,933 discloses polyepoxide resins utilizing an extended amine curing agent. The glycidyl polyethers based upon bisphenol A, for example, are extended with difunctional aromatic diisocyanate polyether prepolymers having an equivalent weight of from 500 to 3000 extended with a polyethylene oxide extended polyamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,660 discloses the production of polyepoxides having good or excellent high heat resistance comprising a glycidyl polyether and an isocyanate prepolymer.